Surgical procedures involving the cutting, grasping, and/or removal of internal tissue are frequently performed using various forms of surgical forceps which may be passed into the body through an elongated, usually flexible tube, such as an endoscope, catheter, cannula, or trocar. Examples of endoscopes used in these procedures are laparoscopes, thorascopes, and arthroscopes. Typical of such forceps is a bioptome used to remove biopsy specimens internally. The bioptome includes a long flexible coil having a pair of opposed jaws at the distal end and a manual actuator at the proximal end. Manipulation of the actuator opens and closes the jaws. During biopsy tissue sample procedures, the bioptome, or other surgical instrument, is inserted into the narrow lumen of an endoscope while viewing the biopsy site through an optical scope. The surgeon guides the endoscope to the biopsy site until the opposed jaws arrive at the biopsy site. The surgeon then positions the jaws of the bioptome around the tissue to be sampled and manipulates the actuator so that the jaws close around the tissue. A sample of the tissue is then cut or torn away from the biopsy site while it is trapped between the jaws of the bioptome. Keeping the jaws closed, the surgeon then withdraws the bioptome from the endoscope and opens the jaws to disgorge the biopsy tissue sample.
Because the lumen of the endoscope is usually relatively small, the bioptome inserted through the lumen must also be small and of compact configuration. Further, in order to achieve the necessary manipulation required to remove the sample and extract it through the lumen of the endoscope, the bioptome frequently has a fairly complex structure. Because of the size constraint and other limitations associated with the bioptome, the jaws typically open to a relatively narrow extent, thereby severely limiting the size and type of specimen that can be extracted. Some conventional bioptomes, for example, frequently employ a fixed jaw and a single movable jaw which closes against the fixed jaw. Other conventional bioptomes employ two movable jaws which are separately activated by complex, multi-link systems and which can only be opened to a relatively narrow extent.
The same considerations and constraints generally apply for other surgical forceps used for cutting, grasping, and/or removing internal tissue.